National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis
(NIMBioS)

The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), located at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, fosters cross-disciplinary approaches in mathematics and biology to address fundamental and applied biological questions. Its mission is twofold: 1) to address key biological questions by facilitating the assembly and productive collaboration of interdisciplinary teams; and 2) to foster development of the critical and essential human capacity to deal with the complexities of the multi-scale systems that characterize modern biology.

The nature of the questions addressed by NIMBioS spans all of biology, impacting both basic and applied science. These impacts range from specific models and applications (physiological integration, disease projection, reserve design) to fundamental questions about human origins, biosphere functioning, and the emergence of biological patterns at diverse scales. NIMBioS is a primary location for the analysis of numerous fundamental questions that are relevant to a variety of public policy concerns, from the impacts of biofuel development, to the challenges of invasions of non-native species, to the dynamics of disease spread in natural populations of plants and animals.

NIMBioS fosters the development of programs that are designed to educate at the mathematics-biology interface, thereby building the capacity of mathematically competent, biologically knowledgeable and computationally adept researchers needed to address the vast array of challenging questions in this century of biology. Thus, the Center is expected to have very broad societal impacts.

Additional information about the NSF National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis can be found at the NIMBioS website.